An unconventional early visit to Megan's mission
Before Megan received her mission call, we were planning to visit Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim in Pittsburgh the first two weeks of June so they could see Megan before she left on her mission. After finding out that Megan was going to Pittsburgh on her mission, we wondered if we should change our plans. After consulting with her grandparents and the mission president, we were assured that we could still keep our plans and visit. It is traditional for parents to "pick up" their missionary when their mission is finished so the missionary can show their parents around the areas where they served. It is quite unconventional and different to visit your mission before you serve there. However, with such generous grandparents that were able to let us stay with them to cut costs and serve as our seasoned tour guides, visiting PA before Megan's mission made sense. Also, consider visiting Pittsburgh with nice weather at the beginning of June compared to visiting Pittsburgh during the harsh weather conditions in December or January at the end of her mission . . . which would you choose?
So off we went. Pittsburgh is such a fun city with so much uniqueness and character! While exploring Pittsburgh, we were able to ride the incline and subway, visit Fort Pitt and the Point, shop at the Strip District, go to the science and Heinz History museums, see some beautiful cathedrals with their elaborate stained glass, tour the Tower of Learning at the University of Pitt and even went on a boat tour that took us on all three rivers. Again, such a unique and beautiful city! Our tour guides (aka Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim) did a great job of navigating us to all of these fun attractions through all the tunnels, bridges and crazy traffic.
We were also able to take a road trip to visit Niagara Falls and a bunch of church history sites near Megan's mission including Palmyra, NY and Kirkland, OH. Seeing the Sacred Grove, Hill Cummorah and Kirkland Temple were all highlights. Mike and I had visited most of these sites previously but there was such a different spirit about visiting them with Megan on the verge of starting her mission. She was able to talk to so many of the missionaries serving at each of the sites and they bore such strong testimonies of why they decided to serve missions and of their experiences while serving. It was truly amazing! Going to the Palmyra Temple with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim was one of Megan's favorite moments of the trip. She was able to spend quite a bit of time with them inside the temple doing family names while Mike and Jenna did baptisms for some of the other family names. It was one of those "perfect" moments.
Once we were back in Pittsburgh, we were so honored that President and Sister Johnson invited all of us over for ice cream and cookies. They are so busy in all of their many responsibilities and yet they still found the time to spend the evening getting to know us and our daughter. We truly feel blessed to have them as mission presidents for my parents as well as for Megan. They have been so supportive of our family and our unique situation. We are so grateful for them and are excited for them to be Megan's "surrogate parents" while she is away from home.
Before Megan received her mission call, we were planning to visit Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim in Pittsburgh the first two weeks of June so they could see Megan before she left on her mission. After finding out that Megan was going to Pittsburgh on her mission, we wondered if we should change our plans. After consulting with her grandparents and the mission president, we were assured that we could still keep our plans and visit. It is traditional for parents to "pick up" their missionary when their mission is finished so the missionary can show their parents around the areas where they served. It is quite unconventional and different to visit your mission before you serve there. However, with such generous grandparents that were able to let us stay with them to cut costs and serve as our seasoned tour guides, visiting PA before Megan's mission made sense. Also, consider visiting Pittsburgh with nice weather at the beginning of June compared to visiting Pittsburgh during the harsh weather conditions in December or January at the end of her mission . . . which would you choose?
We were also able to take a road trip to visit Niagara Falls and a bunch of church history sites near Megan's mission including Palmyra, NY and Kirkland, OH. Seeing the Sacred Grove, Hill Cummorah and Kirkland Temple were all highlights. Mike and I had visited most of these sites previously but there was such a different spirit about visiting them with Megan on the verge of starting her mission. She was able to talk to so many of the missionaries serving at each of the sites and they bore such strong testimonies of why they decided to serve missions and of their experiences while serving. It was truly amazing! Going to the Palmyra Temple with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim was one of Megan's favorite moments of the trip. She was able to spend quite a bit of time with them inside the temple doing family names while Mike and Jenna did baptisms for some of the other family names. It was one of those "perfect" moments.
Once we were back in Pittsburgh, we were so honored that President and Sister Johnson invited all of us over for ice cream and cookies. They are so busy in all of their many responsibilities and yet they still found the time to spend the evening getting to know us and our daughter. We truly feel blessed to have them as mission presidents for my parents as well as for Megan. They have been so supportive of our family and our unique situation. We are so grateful for them and are excited for them to be Megan's "surrogate parents" while she is away from home.
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